May 8, 2008
Top Chef Chicago Recap, Week 9
Welcome, foodies. Let's revisit last night's episode!
We find Andrew and Spike curled up in bed, mourning the loss of The Hobbit. Do not despair, Merry and Pippin. He has returned to the Shire. More morning shots and we see Lisa has somehow picked up on the fact that she is a walking advertisement for hairnets. She ties her hair back in a bandana. Thenkew, Lisa, thenkew.
Quickfire Challenge. No guest judge today. Tom is there. Padma says there will be no more immunity. The chefs split into two teams (Forks: Nikki, Spike, Dale, and Lisa. Spoons: Stephanie, Richard, Antonia, and Andrew.). Challenge: The relay race! Fun! We instantly think back to Chef Hung burning through chickens at the speed of sound. This time, the Chefs will supreme five oranges, peel two artichokes, fillet a monkfish and make mayonnaise.
Lisa and Antonia go head to head with the oranges with Lisa handily beating Antonia. Andrew makes up for the time by finishing his artichokes faster than Spike, even with Spike's earlier start. Richard and Dale fillet the ugly monkfish in pretty much the same time and so it is down to Stephanie and Nikki. Stephanie's arm moves like a machine as she whisks a drizzle of oil into her egg yolks while Nikki is clearly getting tired. Stephanie brings it home and the Spoons win it!
Dale then surprises everyone by going all Jennifer Whiskey-Dad and punching a locker, denting it. It appears as if he does this in front of Padma and Collichio. What the hell? Does anyone else find this just completely ridiculous? Antonia sums it up nicely by saying, "[Dale] punched a locker and…then had to have his diaper changed."
Elimination Challenge. Padma brings in a bride and groom and announces that each team will be cooking for their wedding. As winners, the Spoons get to choose whose menu they will cook – they choose the bride and the Forks get the groom. The bride wants everything fried. Well, not really. She mentions pizza, which is odd. She wants meat and potatoes style food and a layered wedding cake. The team gels nicely, deciding their menu.
The groom wants an Italian menu which seems right up Nikki's menu. Instead of grabbing this moment as an opportunity to shine, she looks reluctant and even petulant about saddling this onerous burden of being a chef. Groom would like German chocolate cake. Mmmmm. This team already hates each other. Poor groom.
The bride's appetizers are a pizza with prosciutto, a pulled pork sandwich, and short ribs and blue cheese in phyllo. The buffet includes a crispy chicken, brisket, filet mignon, creamed spinach and potato gratin. Stephanie tackles a five layer dark chocolate and lemon cake.
The groom's appetizers include assorted flatbreads and bruschetta. For the buffet: tortellini, mixed vegetables and cheeses, filet mignon, Chilean sea bass, and an orecchiette with ragu. The cake is a chocolate hazelnut, made by Lisa.
The chefs run off to find ingredients and then begin a very long night to prepare for tomorrow's event. Dale runs around and has his hand in every dish. He voice-overs that he is doing everything and the rest of the team sucks it. You know, it's a good thing (or shame) that Lisa and Dale hate each other or they might combine to form the most awesome team of hatred in the world. We see clips of the groom's team asking Nikki for advice and her dodging any and all decision making. The bride's team is practically singing about sunshine, lollipops and rainbows compared to them.
Wedding is on and the chefs serve the guests with glassy eyed stares of the undead. No one has had any sleep. The food seems to go over well, with some minor comments about how difficult or messy some of the apps are. Lisa's groom's cake appears somewhat clumsy looking but Stephanie's cake pretty much looks like a real wedding cake, complete with fresh flower petals. Let's cut to the chase and visit the judges' table.
Judges' Table: The judges call in the Bride's team. The judges begin by saying they weren't big fans of the creamed spinach and Richard owns up to putting star anise in the cream sauce. Padma finally lets them know that they are the winning team. Stephanie gets a shout out for the cake, Antonia for her pizza and Richard for his brisket. They declare Richard as winner and he graciously hands it off to Stephanie. Upon hearing that the prize is a gift certificate, they decide to share it. With each other. Not with Antonia and Andrew. heh.
The groom's team hauls their butts in front of the judges and seriously, Lisa has the half-lidded look of a just-hit bong but has combined it with some angry eyebrows. It's a bad look. Dale looks frustrated, sleepy, and mean. Nikki dodges all responsibility created by the simple fact that she and the menu are both Italian. It comes out that Dale doesn't think Spike did enough and Spike calls him out as a cry-baby bitch, with which we agree. Lisa gets some praise for her cake, despite it looking relatively like a square blob. In the end, the judges just can't take Nikki's complete wussing and Padma asks her to pack her knives and head home.
Up next week: Wooo, do we have an evil boy in the kitchen? Complains of sabotage! We love it.
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Actually, Richard and Stef didn't share the prize. Stef mentions they should share it b/c Richard gave her 2K, but he says, "No, its yours." Just another shining example of how awesome Richard is.
Also, this wasn't highlighted or mentioned, but all Lisa did all night was make a 2 layer chocolate cake? I mean, I get a 5 tiered wedding cake in fondt took Stef all night (and wow, I was impressed). . but Lisa's small ugly cake at most should have taken a few hours. . Did she bolt and hit the bed and let her teammates take on additional work? Why didn't anyone call her out on it???
Damn you Chicagoist! I have all of the episodes this year DVRd, but I keep reading here and not watching the episodes. I can't decide whether I need to watch them, or can just live with these great summaries.
On the one hand, there is the drama, and the execution, and well, Padma. On the other, there is not having any time. Hmmmm.
Just put up some nude Padma up as your desktop wallpaper and read the recap.
That Steph did that cake overnight impressed me greatly. Is she a pastry chef or just a regular chef? Either way, great work.
Did Richard really want to by sunflowers for the bride?
If I recall correctly, Dale and Spike did a high-five hug just as Nikki was hitting the door. Apparently, relief over not being Nikki overwhelmed the open hostility.
And what's with Richard lately? Last week he wants lots of kids, this week he talks about how he loves weddings, and then proceeds to defer his winnings to a teammate. He's making the rest of ... well, everyone look bad.
Also, I had thought they were splitting the gift certificate too, but I can see how I could mistake "of course" for "it's yours."
I really got into watching the team dynamics in last night's episode.
No one on the Forks wanted to be a part of that team and they each had their own way of dodging accountability. I felt like Dale used busy work as a way to cover up for refusing to engage with the team. Spike and Lisa each seceded, taking the "I'm going to do one thing that's all mine and do it well" route. And Nikki tried to hide in the background. It makes sense that she was dismissed. As the post says, she was the biggest violator of "being a chef".
It was interesting to watch roles that you see in any workplace so clearly and strongly played out.
I hate Lisa big time. Dale is actually able to back his bullshit up. Hopefully it starts getting back to solo competitions for his sake.
Did anyone else start yawning when they were showing the chefs in the stew room, all being yawny and tired?
Maybe it's the Chicago location, but I'm really digging this season. Can't wait to see what's next.
@Chicago_D -- just give up trying to catch up with your DVRed episodes of TC-Chi. Laura and Chuck do a fantastic job of recapping the show, and making it a bit more entertaining that the actual show itself.
@magikist -- I'm digging the Chicago season, too, and not just because it's in Chicago. Okay, maybe because it is in Chicago. It's still pretty effing entertaining.
Does anyone watch Hell's Kitchen? Would love to hear an opinion or two on that show versus TC-Chi?
@magikist: I yawned all over the place. It was out of control. I couldn't wait to get in bed, and last night, I don't think I stirred once in sleep.
Thanks, Top Chef, for tucking me in and making me appreciate my eightish hours!
I have been DYING for Nikki to go home, and I did not think I could want her to go home any more than I did...until last night. What a pathetic excuse for a chef. If any other chef left on this show (including the ones I'm not crazy about) had been in her position, they would've gone nuts. She was basically put in a situation where all she had to do was plan a menu around what she does best, and she sucked it AND dodged responsibility. UGH, I am so glad she's gone.
I was mad impressed by Stephanie's wedding cake, that was really nuts. Having said that, it does seem as though this round of cheftestants has wised up from prior seasons and made sure they had some pasty/dessert skills up their sleeves.
I know Dale was an awful, whiney baby (and the locker-punching thing was ridiculous), but I also felt for him, as his team was awful. I hatehatehate Lisa and cannot WAIT for her to go home. She looked like she was imitating a sumo wrestler at the judge's table.
@magikist... I fell asleep at the judges table. I had to finish it in the morning.
I thought for sure Dale was going home for being the bitch. But Lisa deserved to go home for not taking the lead when it was offered many times over.
Her statement when he judges ask who was the leader "Definitely not me" was her nail in the coffin.
Ted, on his blog, said about Dale:
You know what would have been more impressive -- not to mention a helluva lot more inspiring? If he had kept his temper under control, assessed his team thoughtfully, and decided that, because he believes he is the stronger chef, he should take the lead, not just hide behind a pan full of tenderloins and hope that Nikki sinks the ship and herself along with it. (Think, Dale: What Would Richard Do?)
lol @ archie manning throwing his support behind dale. overrated "great" players on lousy teams. nice work!
Gale Gand was the guest judge for the elimination round. As if Stephanie weren't under enough pressure! Ms. Gand said that it takes her three days to make a wedding cake, so that Steph made hers in one was impressive.
Nikki really irritated me in the first weeks, but had grown on me. I have to wonder why so many on the groom's team avoided being the leader. From what they show, leaderish behavior is usually rewarded. What DON'T they show?
Also, why is this show so white? White block party. White wedding. Minorities eliminated early on. Oh, yeah, at the beginning of the episode, there were an equal number of men and women. Great strides.
Can next week be Charlie Trotter's week? Someone "tall, dark and handsome" and well-known appears to be next week's guest judge. Hmmm.
Go Stephanie.
Yeah, I agree deeb, Stephanie is NOT a pastry chef (she mentioned that in one of the earlier episodes) and in spite of that, she took on a *wedding cake* with *Gale Gand* as the judge? Mad props. And mad props to Richard, too, who obviously understood how impressive that feat was. His move showed a whole lot of class.
I was glad to see Nikki go down... she was handed such an awesome chance to shine, and she totally blew it. Dale might be a pissy little bitch, but the show is Top CHEF and she couldn't step up when she clearly should have.
@frp: I admit it... I watch Hell's Kitchen. I love Gordon Ramsey. It's a shame the way they edit him on Fox. Watch the BBC Kitchen Nightmares or the F Word and I think you get a much better sense of him as a chef--and he's a lot more impressive, I think. As for HK, I realize there's a lot hidden in the editing, but the caliber of chef--nay, *cook*--on Hell's Kitchen doesn't compare to the people on Top Chef.
anyone remember lisa saying that she'd do anything for nikki? that she would "be her bitch?"
as andrew would say, "culinary boner!"
Ocean - I'm not sure how much pastry experience Stephanie has. I was impressed with that cake, too! One night is not a lot of time. With respect to Richard and the sunflowers, I think they edited that to make it look like he might seriously buy sunflowers but...well, I don't know. Heh. GREAT quote from Ted's blog.
Pencil - I think you hit the nail on the head about identifying the weaknesses in Team Fork.
Hey there, FRP! I've been watching Hell's kitchen, too, and THANK GOD I don't have to re-cap that train wreck. This season is particularly awful, I think.
Deeb - Thank you for mentioning Gale Gand! I can't believe I failed to mention that.
Dave! - I love Kitchen Nightmares. Great show and I think Gordon Ramsey is awesome in it. Hell's kitchen is like...romper room compared to Top Chef. heh.
As bad as the contestants and contrived situations on HK are, you gotta love Ramsay. I just wish they wouldn't make him into a cartoon character version of himself. His BBC shows are great, they really get me excited about food.
Deeb, what about that pan-ethnic mix of kids in the previous episode? Are the producers supposed to ask around before the show about how they need a restaurateur couple who is getting married soon and then add "oh ... and you can't be white"? Are they going to add an uncomfortable racial element to an already-complex production process so that people who read too far into these things don't get offended?
Padma's a hot dishy number for sure, but I still have a hard time imagining her with Salman Rushdie.
As for Richard, usually his Dairy Queen hairstyle gets to me before his smugness, but he received a surprisingly humanitarian edit this episode.
And Hell's Kitchen? The cartoon element is on steroids this season, making it hard for me to believe that any contestant is competent enough to tie a shoelace let alone helm a restaurant. The UK version has a shred more of integrity. But, damn, it's great tv nonetheless.
Oh man I definitely can't handle Hell's Kitchen - its so much about yelling and drama and sensationalism, and so little about the food. Top Chef is usually the opposite, which is why I like it so much - however there are definitely more moments of blatant ratings-boosting drama creeping in over time. Hope its not an ongoing trend!!
Deeb - I'm pretty sure the "tall, dark & handsome" guest judge next week is none other than Sam from season 2. Yummy! And I am betting on Charlie Trotter and his cronies to appear in an episode a little later down the line - he had a big 20th anniversary celebration last fall with star chefs from around the world that would seem to be the PERFECT top chef challenge. Crossing my fingers.
The guest judge I'm really waiting to see is Grant Achatz - can totally tell they're saving him, he's like the hottest chef in Chicago right now. Can't wait.
For more scoop check out my blog: I kind of stalked the show when they were filming last fall and I'm enjoying nibbling up little tidbits as this season goes along as well!